My Mother's Bracelet
by requim17
Summary: Oneshot  BitxLeena.  Our heroes come to terms with their pasts as their current problems throw themselves at their faces.


**Hello all. Never thought I'd get around to writing a BL fic, but here I am. This is sort of like a compilation of everything I've wanted to read but haven't. This is based off of an episode I never saw, though I have heard it mentioned so I ran with it. I tried something different with this fic.. I used parenthesis a lot more than I usually do. I'm not even sure if I used them correctly. Tell me how that went. This is dedicated to three people whose fics I've been reading recently and deserve more reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own the characters, or the words 'foreign touch'. (stole that from one of these three.)**

**To: AnimeBabe90, MrsSparrowDarcy, and Metoria.**

* * *

He had thought he was still asleep when he woke; but it had only been the underside of his eyelids.

For hours he had relived the nightmarish dream over and over, but the only thing that had stayed with him till morning was the deep set night. There had been no stars, he couldn't even see the moon.

When he was finally out of limbo enough to realize that it was morning, he had opened his eyes while rubbing the sleep and fading dream from them. The first thing his brain registered being the white ceiling.

He was suddenly extremely thankful that the Doc had disallowed paint in the base.

* * *

Jamie had spent his early morning hours doing something more useful that staring at imagined paint drying.

First, he had washed the dishes of imagined dirt (Brad had been on dish-washing duty last night, and as responsible as the older man was, he couldn't trust anyone else with the job).

Then, he swept the kitchen of imagined dirt.

Then, he wiped the counters of imagined dust.

And now, after having cooked a healthy, continental breakfast, he was doing the whole process over again.

This was the scene Brad walked in on. Walking over to the coffee pot with his characteristic slow, steady pace, he poured himself a cup and nodded Jamie's way as a 'morning' and 'thanks'.

He just as promptly walked out of the room and headed towards the hangar. They had battled Harry the other day, (and before anybody could even _think_ that he was in there because he had been _hit_ by one of the lap-dog prince's lap-dog robots, he was here to clarify that he hadn't. There was a lot of sand messing up his Shadowfox's joints).

He passed Leena on the way and gave her a nod as well as a 'morning' and a 'thanks for _another_ battle with Prince Charming'.

A half-hearted wave back and a stretch later and Leena was heading towards the kitchen herself, and for something more substantial than coffee. Her hair mussed and clothes wrinkled from having slept in them the night before as a tribute to summer, she entered, enwrapping Jamie in a hug as her nose caught the smells of a beautiful breakfast.

She got the tactician and herself a plate and sat down to eat; a little ways through their meal Bit walked in, eyes unfocused and a little unsteady in his steps.

"Hey! Watch out for that, oaf!" Leena said, a bit harshly, but mornings always made her cranky. The blonde pilot had been dangerously close to the coffee pot.

Jamie chuckled after swallowing a mouthful of scrambled egg, "Yeah, you wouldn't want to add to that debt of yours, Bit."

When he didn't even acknowledge them, the two youngest of the team exchanged glances.

"Bit?" Leena finally said questioningly. "You listening to me?"

He plopped down at the end of the table with a bowl of cereal in one hand and a spoon in the other. When he noticed them staring at him, he rubbed his head tiredly. "I…had a weird dream last night." They were still looking at him so he raised an eyebrow and added a "What?"

"Debt…?" Jamie hinted, raising an eyebrow himself. Doc chose this opportune moment to enter, and rapped Bit on the head as he passed.

Bit shook his head as he was brought out of his thoughts, "Debt…?"

"A job would help, y'know." Leena added, not knowing exactly what was going on but putting her own two cents in anyway.

"Huh?" Bit continued, ever the articulate one.

"Well, with the new armor I just bought you for the Liger Zero, you'll be paying rent until you're my age!" Mr. Taurus took a sip of his coffee while he grinned at Bit, then turned around and spit it out in the sink. It was too bitter for him. "Don't worry too much about that though, I'm still a pretty young chap." He poured the rest of his coffee down after the sip. He never was much of a coffee person.

"I don't believe this! I've been helping win Zoid battles! And what about the prize money we won from Harry the other day? What about _all _the prize money we've won from Harry?" Apparently the toy in the cereal box today was indignation.

"It's a lot of armor…" Jamie explained slowly while gathering up the dishes, (to be washed again meticulously no doubt).

"You have got to be kidding me."

"No, I most absolutely certainly definitely am not. I vote today you get a job and start paying me back my hard-earned money!"

By then Leena was laughing uproariously, head tilted back and hands holding her sides. "I second that!"

"For what?" Bit countered, throwing his arms in the air, and standing up. "More ammo?"

The skirt-clad girl threw him a wave as he sulked to the door, grumbling under his breath.

"Have fun!"

Jamie shook his head disapprovingly, "You waste a lot of our money too, y'know."

"Hey now, none of that." She said wagging a finger at him. "Harry wouldn't be challenging us nearly as much if it weren't for me."

The phone rang and Harry's voice sang Leena's name through the speakers.

"Speak of the devil."

"Leena! I called to see how you were this fine and beautiful morning! I'm fantastic if you were wondering!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, wonderful. Point, please?"

"I was thinking about you all last night--in my opulent living quarters I might add--and I've decided that I really couldn't go another day without seeing you!" Harry's face now popped up on the screen, love plastered all over it.

"Really?" She started in a voice of false adoration, "Well, you've seen me. Bye!" She made a move for the phone, attempting to hang up.

"Aw, Leena, don't be so cruel." Bit said, grabbing her hand away. "You don't think he deserves a little bit of your attention? I vote tonight you go on a long, romantic date with him."

He grinned at her but all she saw were teeth. Little red riding hood and the wolf.

"I second that!" Jamie's voice piped up from the kitchen where he was vigorously washing dishes and, as of now, chuckling.

As Leena opened her mouth to argue Harry cheered "Magnificent! I'll be there at eight!", and the screen went blank. Her mouth hung open wide in shock. (It was probably one of the first times _he_ had hung up on _her_.)

If possible, Bit's grin gleamed wider.

"Have fun."

* * *

Leena spent the better part of the day searching furiously. Searching for a dress, and being absolutely furious while doing so.

First she had raided her closet, but she had never gone on (what she assumed would be) an expensive date, and therefore had nothing even remotely suitable.

After that she'd gone into town, which hadn't worked out too well. She vaguely remembered almost shoving a hanger up some woman's nose.

Now, she was in the attic...or the basement, she couldn't think for the life of her through all the dust and mothballs. She had gone through box after box before finding a few in the far corner. The first one she'd opened had held dry flowers. There had been so many; rose petals had crumbled at the slightest touch of her slightly calloused pilot's fingers.

The next had held pictures, faded and brittle. She could almost make her out in one--_Mom_. She had held that one for a long, long time. There had also been letters, love notes, even a few post-its; all in that partially slanted curly-q style. Her heart leaping at every 'e' she came across because they both extended the tail-end just a tad too long. And finally there had been trinkets. Even a few of her father's Zoid figurines had made it in there. At the last moment she had pulled out a silver bracelet. It was completely plain and un-special, but the idea that it had belonged to her was irresistible.

_It doesn't look too bad on my wrist,_ she finally lamented before folding up the box. It was the first real keepsake of hers she'd had.

The last box--_behind door number three_ had echoed in the vaults of her mind--held clothes. She went through them tenderly, holding each up to the dim light and admiring every frayed edge. As she came upon her mother's wedding dress a soft, almost girly sound had escaped her lips.

She wrote it off as a rustle of fabric.

Images of movies flashed into her mind, and she toyed with the idea of trying it on. However, she quickly dismissed the thought, because, if nothing else, she wasn't a lovesick little girl who needed a man to take care of her.

The last article was another dress. It was made of some smooth, shimmering, un-wrinkling perfection.

At second glance it was strapless, lacy, and pink. Definitely not her style and it was sure to clash with her hair. Wrinkling her nose and painfully standing up--her toes had cramped from balancing on them for so long--she held the dress against her. It hung to around her ankles, and the lace wasn't that bad if you looked at it from this angle. In reality, you could barely see it.

Finally sucking it up and deciding to wear it, the lavender-eyed young woman carefully replaced her mother's clothes, took one last glance around the attic basement, and left for her room.

Soft steps mingling with even softer thoughts.

* * *

_The ambulance lights and the police lights and the neighbor's flashlights, they were everywhere. A little halo of light and it hadn't lightened the situation. He had been flat on his back, looking at the sky, completely black, and could see it sucking away all of it. The sounds, all of it. And it took his parents with it._

This was his third interview today (all spontaneous by the way), and he had walked in and been kicked out in under thirty minutes for each.

_Behind door number three_ echoed in the vaults of his mind as he opened the ornate black door. His footsteps were muffled by the thick carpet in the entryway, and, feeling a little awkward, stuffed his hands into his front pockets as he sauntered to the front desk.

"Picking up?" Said the raven-haired woman while scratching words down on slips of paper. She looked like a secretary.

"You looking for work?"

She looked up then, trying to flick her long bangs out of the way but failing miserably. It made her look really silly, leaning her head all the way back so as to see him straight. He could see her moving too far back and loosing her balance, and when he confirmed it with the dents on the wall, he chuckled under his breath.

"Oh, I'll have to let you see my supervisor. He'll probably have you work the counter." She stood and motioned for him to follow. The disproportioned girl tried for a gypsy sway of the hips and failed miserably at that too. At least to Bit she did; there was only one person he could think of that could do it with a subconscious perfection, and he would never admit it.

They walked through a glass door which opened into a giant…flower store. The balding man behind the counter looked at him surprised, then walked towards them.

He held out a hand for the blonde pilot to shake. "Nice to meet you…"

"Bit." He responded, returning the gesture. "I didn't know that black door led here to--" He glanced over his shoulder to catch the name of the store through the front window, "A Botanist's Delight."

"Those were our offices." He said jovially. "Didn't expect a customer to come through there. Were you looking for a certain type of flower?"

_Obviously not,_ or he would have come through the _front_ door.

The woman responded for him. "He wanted a job."

"Ah," He said, glancing around. He had a thin sheen of sweat over him and was constantly wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. "Well, you could man the front counter. Let me just grab a bottle of water and I'll come and show you the ropes."

He walked through the door he and the long-haired girl had come through, and left the latter and him standing awkwardly together. Not being able to tell if she was looking at him through her bangs he moved to the area behind the counter and started messing with the flower arrangements.

He heard a slight crash as she was thwarted by a floor too stupid to lie down--the wall--and a clang and a squeak as she troublesomely made her way back.

The green-eyed young man sighed inwardly at his predicament. A flower store was just so…_unclimatic. _

As he ventured off into the recesses of the store--knocking over a pot on his way--the door chimed, unbeknownst to our hero. This was because he was busy kicking the dirt from the ruined plant under a shelf.

"Bit _Cloud_?" The previously unknown customer exclaimed.

The voice gave him that same twinge of annoyance and he knew who it was before he even had to look at his scowling face and crossed arms. "Hey Harry, funny seeing you around here."

"More like funny seeing _you_ around here. I have reasons for flowers, such as the fact that I have a date with Leena tonight." He said smirking.

"I know; I was there. I'm pretty sure I even mentioned it."

"That doesn't make a difference," here his eyes glazed and he seemed to go into his own special 'dream world'. "I know deep down she has that hope. She's just afraid to admit it," He pumped a fist triumphantly, "and today's the day Prince Harry Champ releases her of that fear!"

Bit quirked an eyebrow but didn't say a word. It wasn't his place and he really didn't feel like battling Harry again.

"Tonight will be perfect. It _has_ to be." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred. "Where's the manager in this place? I want the biggest bouquet I can get."

"Uh, I work here."

Harry looked at him strangely, then laughed while walking over to pat him on the shoulder. "Work!" (As if it were some preposterous idea.) "Sometimes I feel so sorry for you lower-class type."

Bit scowled, but the Prince failed to notice. Handing him the hundred dollar bill he said, "Alright then, _you_ get me the flowers."

Snatching the money he began walking aimlessly down a random aisle. He couldn't place why he was so irritated with Harry and his dumb _date_. "Right this way, sir."

"Hah!" Harry cried, buffing his nails on his jacket. "I'm starting to like this."

As the extremely verdant greenery worker walked down the aisle he proceeded in grabbing various flowers and small bouquets, stuffing them one after another into his fist. The mass of blossoms quickly got to the point of obscuring his vision, therefore he remained completely oblivious as they knocked over stacks and bundles of certain species.

When he, by pure chance, made it back to the counter, he began tearing out chunks of ribbon to twist around the stalks. Then (really trying by that time) he kept tearing the tissue paper and plastic as he was packaging the bouquet. By the time he had finished, the wreckage he had left behind was nothing to be scoffed at.

_Harry_ definitely wasn't scoffing anymore, and his upturned nose was contrasted by his mouth that hung open in shock at the insanity.

Bit heard a splutter, and as Harry's mouth was still functioning as the Bat Cave, he assumed it wasn't him. Turning innocently towards the glass door he fixed the manager with a trademark grin.

"I call it _La Disaster En Masse_."

The wanna-be botanist spluttered again, so Bit took the courtesy of handing Harry's money over to the man and cramming the mess of flowers and paper into Prince Champ's hands. He whistled as he walked out the door.

Sometimes the third time _wasn't_ the charm.

* * *

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Her emotions changing from depression to extreme impassiveness. She was trying to give herself a pep talk.

"Alright Leena, Ms. Independent and all that. You can do this."

She picked up a clutch purse (for those of you just tuning in, it was about the fifth time). After studying her reflection in the mirror another half-minute, she put it back down. Too bothersome.

She really, really, _really_ didn't want to go on a date with Harry Champ. She couldn't think of a single interesting thing he could tell her about himself that he hadn't already, or a single thing that didn't make her want to strangle him for some entertainment.

"Well.." she took a little of that back. He was a nice guy, as long as something was going on to break the monotony.

She sighed exasperatedly again. Weighing the small silver thing in her hand. "The purse or not the purse, that is the question." She could fill it with plastic roaches and throw them at other people's feet all night.

It took longer for her to decide to not do that than it did for her to scratch the wedding dress idea.

Showed what her priorities were.

She could bring a phone and text somebody…or not. Who was she going to talk to? She didn't really feel like venting to any of her teammates, especially since they all seemed to be busy in their own little worlds. She had already had some nice small talk with Brad when she had gotten back from town. He was in the hangar around his Zoid...question was when was he _not_ around his Zoid. (Easily answerable--when he was around Naomi).

Bit--the person, who so unjustly and out of spite, had put her in this predicament--, she hadn't seen since the morning. She vaguely wondered if he had found a job and whether he liked it. Then she remembered his teasing grin. _That_ is what she would do the whole wasted night. Plot her revenge.

She hadn't seen Jamie either, as he had probably disappeared to play with his computers. She had, though, had a quick lunch with her father in which a lot of winking had gone on. Later on she'd seen him puttering around the living room, toying with the various controllers, albeit confusedly. He was absolutely nuts, but she didn't know what she would do without him, especially now that Leon was gone.

Finally picking the last petal off the daisy, she decided to ditch the purse and walked out of the bathroom to face the music.

With her absolute _amazing_ luck today (sarcasm), Harry would already be waiting outside for her.

* * *

_Left of the bar._

He had taken her to a restaurant (no surprise there), in which he had quickly explained the lengths he went to get reservations on such short notice and how lucky she was that she knew someone with such great connections as he. Somewhere in there had been how fantastic the place was.

_In front of the bar._

He'd also given her a bouquet of flowers. They were haphazard enough to be called cute, but she had assumed he'd made it himself because of the shoddy work. He had changed the subject.

_Left of the bar._

She had taken to closing her left eye and right eye alternatively. It was just slightly more amusing than Harry's exaggerated exploits of the last three days.

_In front of the bar._

"After brushing my teeth, I had breakfast with Sebastian and Benjamin. They are remarkably good cooks. You should taste their poached ostrich egg." He wasn't even looking at her by now, and monologued animatedly while gazing at the ceiling.

She felt a little bit of pity stir in her stomach. He must live an incredibly impersonal life.

_Left of the bar._

"That's when I called you. I hadn't actually seen what it looked like outside yet, but any day is beautiful if it includes you in it!"

She grunted in reply. Sometimes she wondered if Harry was Italian. The compliments got cheesier by the day.

"Have you taken a look at this tableware?" He looked down at the table, running a finger over the fork. "Pure silver! And the plates are all porcelain. Do you want to know why they're porcelain?"

Because they were expensive and this place wanted to waste money on plates? "Why are they porcelain, Harry?" She asked uninterestedly, more because he'd paused than he had been waiting for her to ask.

"Porcelain retains heat longer. We'll actually have warm food, compared to those places everyone else eats."

He took a sip of his champagne. "I learned that in the best private school in the nation. No expense was overlooked for my raising."

_In front of the bar._

She wondered why she wasn't twenty-one by now. She really needed the alcohol.

_Left of the bar._

She had been picking the petals off of the flowers.

"Do you like your bouquet? I went to the best botanist to get them."

"The best?" Leena said, quirking an eyebrow. Modern art was definitely taking a new twist on things.

"Well," he sighed, waving his hand as if flicking off an insect, "I feel bad laughing at him when he isn't here, but Bit was the one that made them."

She sat up straight, (out of shock, people!) "Bit? As in Bit Cloud?"

"He was working at the place where I got these for you. He's horrible at it."

She laughed, studying the flowers closer now. "He made these?"

"Yes, but let's not talk--"

"Cute. Horrible, but cute." He must have known she'd be getting these. Also, a _flower shop?_ The thought of it had her chuckling again.

"I know." Harry said, agreeing awkwardly. The conversation was in dangerous waters. "He completely wrecked the place. There was paper and flowers everywhere. I don't know how someone as half-witted as him pilots a Zoid."

"Do you think he's still there?"

"Can we not talk about him!?" Harry said exasperatedly as the waiter came up to the table, making to pour more champagne in their glasses.

_Speak of the goddamned devil._

Bit Cloud, blonde-haired, green eyed, Ultimate X pilot, whom up until now only worked with a Zoid battle team, but now added to his list a waiter in a high-end restaurant, and, presently, was halfway frozen through pouring a bottle of champagne into a glass.

Harry's eyes widened as he ogled him, and Leena broke into a fit of giggles. Their waiter tried to remain as professional as possible.

"Er, Hi." He waved at them with Harry's glass and sloshed the bubbly liquid over the edges. "Whoa!" He tried looking at anything but the two of them. "Sorry, sir, ma'am. Sir and ma'am." He set down Harry's glass and asked if they had anything they wanted to order.

"I am not trusting you with another one of my orders!" Harry seethed.

Bit backed away slowly as Harry became more and more incensed. Leena had given up the giggles and was now laughing out loud. The flowers in her hand dipped, and in slow motion Bit watched the candle light them on fire.

"Eep!" Leena hollered, jumping up and dropping the twisted tangle. The tinder soon caught and lit up the whole table, toasting Harry's marshmallows. It really was too bad it wasn't _meant_ to be a bonfire.

Bit joined Leena in the hilarity as the rest of the restaurant turned to look at the threesome.

"Hundreds of dollars, wasted! You always ruin everything!"

The person accused turned his head to lock eyes with Leena for a moment, both grinning widely at the poor prince's expense.

His pants soon began smoldering and he shouted, while trying to raise an accusatory finger at Bit, "He just tried to light me on fire!"

Workers who had appeared from the back carrying fire extinguishers stopped and stared at the two smiling young adults smack dab in the middle of the room.

"Good time to skip out on the check?"

"Yup."

He grabbed her wrist and both dashed for the back door.

"Get him!" Harry shouted from somewhere behind them as they shut the door behind them, Bit immediately dragging her towards the jeep.

Two security guards and a chef who still had a ladle in his hand cut them off, however, as they ran out of the kitchen doors, and the two bolting pilots had to swerve right and head down the streets.

As they ran down the sidewalk, her bracelet cutting into her wrist from the way he was holding her arm, she could feel the faintest slipping of her foot in those infernal high-heels. _No, no, no_, she whispered under her breath as the heel broke from under her and she stumbled forward, loosing the useless thing in the process. "Damn it!"

"What?"

"My shoe!"

"No time for fashion accessories, Cinderella!"

"Stop them!" Came another hysterical scream, and they jumped into a side street to their right. He flexed his fingers and rubbed his palm.

"Since when do you wear bracelets?" He bent his head to inspect the silver band, reaching up to hold her hand as he brought it close to his face.

"It was…my mothers." She responded truthfully, though slightly scatter-brained (they were being chased, don't y'know).

"Hmm." He said looking at her for a moment, and her confusion. "It's nice."

A flashlight glanced around the corner and they had to start running again, slipping through shady passages between buildings and under wasted balconies until they ducked into a damp alleyway.

As they stood and caught their breath Leena bent down to massage her foot. She realized now why humans invented shoes, and why running shoes had come before decorative ones.

He leant her a smile and a wink as sustenance.

"Okay, first a pink dress and now you're standing on one leg? Why the huge ordeal, if you like flamingoes I'll just buy you a figurine." Bit said, grinning. At least, she thought he was grinning… it was dark.

"I lost my shoe when you were busy running to save your skin."

"Our skin." He corrected, brushing himself off with a hand and glancing around the corner.

She studied the back of his head for a moment, eyes running over his golden hair and neck as it arched. It was perfect, she thought, and she wondered just how well her head would fit cradled against it.

A heat rose to her cheeks at the unexpected thought and she tore her eyes away from the muscles hidden underneath it and stuck them straight down at her feet.

An even deeper blush tingled up her spine and bloomed on her cheeks when she found her hand still clasped within his. The warmth of it had almost become subconscious. Even if their fingers weren't laced like the classics the redness didn't leave, and she had to thank the missing stars and subsequent shadows for hiding it. It was childish--holding hands in the hallway--but the foreign touch and ghostly grip pumped red-hot shivers up her arm.

While Leena had been studying him, Bit had lost interest of the street and had let his head tilt back onto the wall behind him as he gazed upward. The black sky sobered him, and brought his dream from the night before crashing down. It had been so long ago, but even as he thought of it now it pulled at his heart.

"Bit?"

He yawned as he turned towards her, and had to fight down a blush when he noticed how close she was to him. How extremely close she was. How all of her red hair, pure skin, and huge, violet eyes were close enough to touch.

"Tired from all that fleeing?" she said softly. The night seemed to have sobered her, too.

"A little." From the corner of his eye he could see her studying him. It was unnerving. They had never been so still, and so quiet, when they were so close.

When he turned towards her again, he was caught in her steady gaze, and the way her lips were pressed, just so, when she was concentrating on him forced his brain into back flips. "I didn't get much sleep…that dream--"

"From this morning?"

And the softest breeze nipped at the back of his neck, swirling her hair ever so slightly before letting it lilt, ephemeral, onto her bare shoulders. In that moment she looked like a goddess that no epithet could ever describe. A goddess whom the world had given so she could stand right next to him, right here, so he could finally just _say it._

A long time ago. "I had just turned thirteen. My parents were out--out somewhere, I don't know." He took a breath. "I had gone out to a friend's house a couple streets down, and I was coming back late, it was dark, I should've left earlier, they didn't have street lamps and city lights like they do now!" The abrupt exclamation made him pause, but finally he closed his eyes and continued. "I was borrowing his skateboard to get back. I didn't really know how to ride it, it was a stupid idea. I was concentrating so hard on staying balanced that I didn't hear them."

He looked at her then. To see if she understood. But the way she looked at him, so openly, it was as if she was helping _him _to understand.

"They--my parents--they swerved, hit a tree. It was a head on collision. There were pieces of the car everywhere. Pieces of junk."

He looked at her, and the green in his eyes was over laden with guilt. "They died that night."

Suddenly, for an instant, she was breathless, as if someone had socked her in the stomach.

But she didn't feel alone, didn't feel helpless. When she lay a hand on his shoulder, it didn't feel awkward or childish or strange, it felt _right_.

She looked at him for what felt like a long time. Not pondering or wondering what she should say, but waiting. It was cliché, but time--months, minutes, moments, a moment like this, a _real_ one--was what healed. Finally, she trailed her gaze down his arm to their hands. Slowly, deliberately, she interlaced their fingers, because it connected them, and what she was about to say would connect them in the way his words had.

"My dad had always told me it was an accident." She couldn't force herself to look at him now, so instead traced the outline of their hands. "I was so young that I couldn't have known otherwise, anyway. It was the Backdraft. They had attacked--" she gulped, bit her lip. "They had attacked my father--in a zoid battle. She had been there, she wasn't supposed to be, and she got hit."

She tried to breathe as evenly as possible, but it came out shaky. "Did you know…" a sad smile marred her face, "they had been friends, all three of them. And he had loved her. The leader of the Backdraft had loved my mother. There was a love note…it was an accident, my dad signed his name instead. She fell in love with him, but he was the one who wrote it in the first place! He had no right--no right." She spoke bitterly, spitting out the words. "And she died for it.

"He said I looked just like her."

The blonde-haired pilot drank her in as she lifted her head to set her eyes on him. Yes, they were sad, but her mouth was set in a firm line, her face set, her shoulders proud. It was confidence and independence that radiated off of her, and not mourning or grief. And that was Leena to him. It wasn't a façade or act, and he admired her for it, for her ultimate courage.

She hadn't taken it as an actual movement. She thought he had tilted, or shifted. The aquamarine eyes she knew in her mind's eye had darkened with some unspoken emotion, and with the faintest shade of hope.

When his lips brushed her own, her heart fluttered.

If she could have thought twice she wouldn't have. Everything about him pulled her forward, and when he backed away she leaned in. The first kiss was long, slow. Her hand found his neck, traced it into his hairline while his found her waist, slippery satin and curves beneath his fingers.

When it deepened, tongues ghosting over the other, he arched over her, arms encircling her waist to pull her closer. Her unclad foot and leg wrapped around his, skirt and lace falling back beneath her. In that instant, as their souls entwined and found that inexplicable and rare completion in the other, he felt so _connected_ to her, and she so incredibly _close_ to him.

It wasn't on the ocean, standing on a deck of some fabulous cruise liner, and it wasn't in an expensive, high-end restaurant with opulent decorations and Harry's pure silver silverware. It wasn't even on the rooftop underneath the stars. They were in a dark alleyway that stunk of rats, trash, and mildew, and they wouldn't have been surprised if there was a dead body deteriorating in one of the dumpsters.

Yet it was one of the most beautiful moments in either of their lives.

* * *

_Epilogue_

When our feisty red-head woke the next morning she was already beaming. Her heart was even pumping a little giddily. After standing and stretching, she ran her fingers over her slightly swollen lips. That had been quite the kiss the night before.

Flushing slightly as she changed, she headed towards the kitchen, where she caught Bit finishing a glass of milk.

He mouthed a 'hey' as he set his glass down, and she decided to push her luck. Leaning forward, she placed her lips near his ear and murmured 'morning.'

She grinned at him when she rocked back on her heels, then busied herself with finding something to eat.

"Don't tease me like that."

The Doc walked into the room, hand rubbing over his stubble. "Ah, Bit, just the man I was looking for."

"I will not be your hit-man."

"As an introduction to my news, what happened to that job I told you to get?" This time the Doc poured himself orange juice.

"I think I was…fired."

"Well then, go get another one. You still have to pay off that debt, plus this."

"Plus what?" The doc slid over a piece of fax paper, tapping his finger pointedly at the sum.

"It's from a floral store. They want you to pay for a few things."

Bit's eyes widened and he coughed.

"By that, I meant a lot of things."

Bit skimmed the paper quickly, running a tired hand over his face.

"You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

**Alright, that's it. Are Harry's robot's names Sebastian and Benjamin? I totally forgot...and is it Toros? I think it is, but I like the idea of Taurus better.**

**Here's the backstory, and a little explanation. I wrote the last paragraph first. Then Bit's memory in italics. Then I wrote the whole alleyway scene...I usually write excerpts of ideas I have, though I never really go through with them. But by the time I had done all of that I really wanted to write the whole thing. Most of it happened while I was writing it. Leena and her mom's dress? I wrote that to fit in with Bit's flamengo line. And the flowers? Totally spontaneous. Three sentences into it and I was like, 'really don't feel like writing him signing up for a waiter's job'. Then it turned into my favorite part. Then the epilogue happened. It felt strange ending it as them kissing. **

**SO, if the fic seems a little strange and choppy, I'm sorry. **

**Now I'm going to get around to thinking of what I'm going to title this thing. I'm hoping the three I've dedicated this to read this.**


End file.
